Jet Blue pilot breakdown: What if there had been a gun in the cockpit?

March 30, 2012

This week's apparent mental breakdown by a Jet Blue pilot could have had a very different ending. Imagine that the ill pilot had pulled the gun that many pilots now carry and started a gunfight in the cockpit.

The law that allows pilots to bring arms onto planes was enacted following the9/11tragedy. But over the years, we watched time and again as brave passengers have dealt with safety threats directly without the need of armed force.

Within recent weeks we've witnessed graphic on-board meltdowns by a flight attendant and now a pilot. While the overwhelming majority of flight crews are healthy, it only takes one mentally ill person with access to a gun to turn a personal tragedy into a national one. It is time to protect the public and get guns out of our nation's cockpits.